Kevin Paul Jackson (born 2 October 1947), credited as Paul Jackson; sometimes as K. Paul Jackson, is an English television director, producer and executive, known for his production roles within the BBC, ITV, and previously, Carlton and Granada. His most famous television work includes The Two Ronnies and The Young Ones, and as the original producer for the sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf. In 2006, Jackson was named Director of Comedy and Entertainment at ITV.
Early life
Jackson was born in London in 1947, the son of BBC Light Entertainment Producer T. Leslie Jackson, whose credits included the 1950s series This Is Your Life and What's My Line. He graduated from the University of Exeter in 1970.
Career
BBC
Jackson began his career with the BBC, joining them in 1971 as an assistant floor manager. Over the next 11 years he was promoted, becoming a director, producer and eventually executive producer, working on a range of the best-known shows of the time - the Larry Grayson incarnation of The Generation Game, Blankety Blank, Top of the Pops and the last series of Steptoe and Son all feature among his credits. However, it is for a quartet of programmes that he is particularly known: The Two Ronnies (which he produced and directed, and for which he won three BAFTA nominations); Three of a Kind (the show featured Tracey Ullman and Lenny Henry and was a winner of the BAFTA award for best entertainment show and a Rose of Montreux); The Young Ones (winner of a BAFTA for best comedy); and Carrott's Lib, a series transmitted live.
He also produced and directed Ben Elton's first solo TV project, Happy Families, with Jennifer Saunders, Adrian Edmondson, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry amongst others and the follow-up series to The Young Ones, Filthy Rich & Catflap.
Freelance career
In 1982, Jackson left the BBC and went freelance, producing The Cannon and Ball Show for LWT and two series of Girls on Top (starring Tracey Ullman, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Ruby Wax) for Central Television. Eighteen months later, he set up Paul Jackson Productions, one of the newly created independent producers made possible by the arrival of Channel Four. The company made Coming Next, a sketch show with Hale and Pace, Chris Barrie and several other series. One series gave Ruby Wax her first solo outing, Don't Miss Wax, which was produced for Channel Four. At this time Jackson was a member of the council of IPPA, a forerunner of Pact, the body which established terms for trade between independent producers and the BBC and other broadcasters.
PJP was eventually taken over by Noel Gay Television, a company chaired by the British entertainment executive, Bill Cotton. Jackson served as the managing director and the company produced Red Dwarf, the long-running and internationally successful comedy series, the pilot episode of Bottom (Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson) and, working with LWT, the hugely influential Channel Four variety show, Saturday Live. Saturday Live featured such comedy stars as Lenny Henry, Pamela Stephenson, Michael Barrymore, Peter Cook and Barry Humphries and brought to prominence talents such as Ben Elton (as a performer), Fry and Laurie, Harry Enfield and Julian Clary. The company also held the contract to provide all entertainment programming for the short lived UK satellite service, British Satellite Broadcasting and produced shows featuring then unknown names such as Armando Iannucci, Steve Coogan, Lee Evans and Jack Dee, as well as The Happening, a precursor to the long-running BBC show Later... with Jools Holland. In 1988 Jackson also co-produced the Oscar-winning short film, The Appointments of Dennis Jennings, starring Steven Wright and Rowan Atkinson.
Carlton Television
In 1991, Jackson was a member of the five-man team which prepared Carlton Television's successful bid for the London weekday franchise in the franchise round of that year. He served as a director of programmes for the bid, and was made managing director of the company the night it went on air on 1 January 1993. He later became managing director of Carlton Television Productions, but after the company's merger with Central Television in 1994 Jackson felt this model was at odds with the independent production model on which Carlton had been built and he left barely a year later.